A Kiss in the Dark (1949) User Reviews

While it has a silly plot and is a very trivial film, it's still a lot of fun!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 17 October 2006]

This isn't a good movie to watch if you are the type that is annoyed by plot holes or silly and contrived situations. The basic story is pretty hard to believe, but in spite of this, the film is a lot of fun to watch due to the wonderful acting of this ensemble cast. In other words, it's a great example of the sum total of the film being better than the individual parts. Taking JUST the plot, the film is pretty dumb and contrived. After all, David Niven plays a neurotic and persnickety concert pianist who has become an absentee landlord of a high-rise apartment complex. Okay,....but when he then agrees to leave his posh home and visit the complex and then gets pulled into the giant family-like atmosphere that exists there, the film throws believability out the window. BUT, I strongly advise you not to give up on the film. Sure, it's contrived but the bit characters and leading characters' parts are written and performed so well, you will likely quickly forget about how silly the film is and get sucked into the comedy-romance of the film.

David Niven is just wonderful as the pianist who ultimately falls for sweet and perky Jane Wyman. Both are excellent and the chemistry actually works--even though common sense might have you think "David Niven AND Jane Wyman,....NO WAY,...it'll never happen!".

As for the rest of the cast, they are a motley group of bit characters and supporting actors that give the film a nice, sweet homey atmosphere. In particular, Victor Moore as the sweet but daffy 'Mr. Willoughby' was a delight--so cute and nice--you just can't help but like him.

Special mention should also be given to the director, Delmer Daves. Considering how stupid the plot was, he got the absolute most out of the material and the cast.

So, my recommendation is that despite the score of 6 (it just didn't merit more due to the plot), it is well worth seeing--especially if you love old films and are a softy at heart. Enjoy.

Entertaining!

[Costu-2 · 6/10 · 15 December 2003]

This is not perhaps the BEST example of screwball comedy, but it has enough going for it that anyone looking for some light entertainment ought not be -too- disappointed! David Niven and Jane Wyman have a superb chemistry. Some of the scenes are laugh-out-loud funny, even when (as, for example, the scene with the animal trap in the park) one can easily guess what will happen next. And there is a very satisfying ending. Recommended!

The Cleopatra Arms

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 9 June 2015]

In A Kiss In The Dark David Niven is cast as a concert pianist whose business manager Joseph Buloff handles his many diversified investments which among other things a brownstone apartment building called The Cleopatra Arms. Acting as superintendent of the place and also one of the tenants is Victor Moore. When Moore comes calling one day Niven finds out about his ownership and gets to meet some of the many tenants there including perky model Jane Wyman.

It isn't too long before Niven is involved throughly with the lives and fortunes of all the tenants there. Among others are Wyman's boyfriend Wayne Morris and an irascible Broderick Crawford who has a problem getting to sleep.

We're never told what his job is, but Crawford works a graveyard shift job and comes home and wants a little shut eye. The comedy around him centers on his irascibility due to sleep deprivation. I'm not sure how funny that is, I had sympathy for the guy. Nevertheless all the other tenants want him out and Niven finds a way to oblige.

With Victor Herbert's melody weaving in an out of the soundtrack and serving as title and theme for the film, A Kiss In The Dark is a slight but amusing comedy that in the hands of a director better suited for comedy might have worked better. Certainly David Niven has gotten worse material and managed to make it work.

A Kiss In The Dark was the farewell film of Maria Ouspenskaya who plays Niven's original piano teacher. Maria whose career went back to the Russian Art Theater was killed in a house fire the same year A Kiss In The Dark came out.

One hopes that David Niven held on to the Cleopatra Arms. What it would be worth today is incalculable. A lot more than the film.

cute comedy

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 18 January 2006]

David Niven is an isolated concert pianist who is swept into the lives of apartment house residents in "A Kiss in the Dark," also starring Jane Wyman. Niven is excellent as a man who knows no other world than that of the concert stage and the practice room, and his handlers like it that way. When an apartment manager visits him, Niven learns that one of his investments is The Cleopatra Apartments. One look at Jane Wyman in her shorts and Niven decides not to be an absentee landlord.

This is a very entertaining comedy, and I agree with previous posters that there are laugh out loud scenes. Some of the comedy is provided by, of all people, Broderick Crawford as a subletter who works at night and sleeps -- or tries to -- all day. It's a different role for Crawford, and he does it very well.

Wyman is very pretty and vivacious as an apartment dweller who falls for Niven, and the two have wonderful chemistry. Handsome Wayne Morris is her insurance salesman boyfriend. This isn't the most fabulous film you'll ever see, but it's a fun one.

It's a Charmer

[Sharclon8 · 7/10 · 4 January 2006]

This is one of those movies that is just simply enjoyable to watch. I chuckled much of the way through it. I laughed out loud at the antics of Botts when trying to get away from the practicing of our hero. But I precede myself. The hero played by David Niven, who I am an admitted fan of, is a high strung, nervous, major up tight concert pianist and very famous. He is being run by his manager, who in turn runs the butler and every one else who supposedly takes care of David Niven. One day a funny little man comes to see Mr. Niven. The former owner of The Cleopatra Arms, an apartment building played by Victor Moore who is absolutely adorable in the part. Moore takes David Niven to see the building he owns and introduces him to the tenants there. One of the tenants is a model named Polly played by Jane Wyman. As a rule I am not a big fan of Miss Wymans, but in this movie she is quite fetching. Mr. Niven takes one look at her in shorts, is immediately smitten with her and his life begins to change. I do not remember seeing David Niven and Jane Wyman in any other movie together, but in this one they make a very appealing couple. The funniest scene takes place when Jane Wyman, Victor Moore and David Niven are striving to drive the one bad tenant, Potts, out of the Cleopatra Arms by having Niven come and do his 6-8 hour piano practicing in the room next to Potts who works nights and makes everyones life miserable by yelling at them to keep quiet so he can sleep days. Broderick Crawford plays Botts. Crawford usually played such serious roles and rarely had a chance to show his comic flair, but in this movie he gets his chance and he does a very good job. All in all I think this is a very charming movie. I really enjoyed it.

"Why must this monster dominate my room as well as my life".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 12 October 2014]

If you pay close attention to the picture you'll come away with some interesting tidbits of information - advertising models back in 1949 were making fifteen dollars an hour, sardines and peanut butter was a popular sandwich of choice, and without me spilling the beans, the definition of propinquity. Oh yes, and there's also this fact about David Niven - "He likes Bugs Bunny". At least his character Eric Phillips in the story did. But as I heard that quote from one of the actors, I was reminded of those old Warner Brothers cartoons that quite regularly parodied Hollywood celebrities, and I'm certain they hit on Niven at least once. I'll have to look it up.

Well I'm not sure where the kiss in the dark of the title comes from, but if you're up for some lighthearted diversion this one might work for you. Maybe not full blown slapstick, but it comes close at times with the boisterous character of Botts (Broderick Crawford) and the fifteen foot ladder antics of photographer Schloss (Curt Bois). But what will keep your eyes glued to the screen, and this is meant for you guys, are the gorgeous gams on that future Falcon Crest matriarch, Jane Wyman. Add her name to a list of very attractive young actresses when they were starting out who you wouldn't have thought so if you saw them in their later years, stars like Bette Davis and Angela Lansbury for example. Just another reason you need to cultivate an appreciation of older films.

Well the story itself here is probably less than the sum of it's parts. Niven's character starts out as a hoity-toity and rigidly fussbudget concert pianist who gets a lesson in real life from the Bergenheimer Ginger Beer girl and all the common folk back at the Cleopatra Arms he's associated with as a result of a business investment. The theme's been done before and since and here it's presented with a helping of charm, courtesy of Miss Wyman. Rounding out the main cast are Victor Moore as the congenial and often funny caretaker of the Cleopatra, and Wayne Morris as the persistent insurance salesman betting on a policy for Niven's nimble fingers. I wound up doing a quick double take when future Mickey Mouse Club moderator Jimmie Dodd showed up in the latter part of the picture. He's listed in the IMDb lineup as character Studsy Nolan, but in the captioning on the film it was displayed as Statzi. Either way, trivia fans can have some fun with that one.

A very good, warm comedy romance

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 20 August 2020]

"A Kiss in the Dark" is a fun, warm story, gentle romance and fine comedy. David Niven is very good as world famous pianist Eric Phillips, who goes into the apartment house management business. Jane Wyman is very good as the saucy and very likable and helpful tenant, Polly Haines. But this film owes at least half its charm to Victor Moore. His Horace Willoughby had to sell his apartment building because he was going broke by his charitable management.

Moore had at least two superb movies in his later career. This one and his Aloysius T. McKeever, in the great 1947 comedy and drama, "It Happened on Fifth Avenue." Some other cast members here are notable - Broderick Crawford as the very loud Mr. Botts, Wayne Morris as insurance salesman and Polly's boyfriend, Bruce Arnold; and Joseph Buloff as Eric's crafty, cranky and slightly crooked business manager and handler.

Another Hollywood lady of distinction has a small role, but she is always recognized and appreciated. Maria Ouspenskaya, the Russian actress who defected in 1922 appeared on Broadway for several years and then founded the School of Dramatic Art in 1929 in New York. Here she plays Madam Karina.

This is a fine film with very humorous touches that most people should enjoy.

Here's a line from Mr. Willoughby to Polly: "I knew you were in love with him before you did."

Strained Whimsy

[abooboo-2 · 4/10 · 15 December 2003]

Comedy is all about timing, of course, and Delmer Daves, the director has horrible timing and no feel for comedy. Scene after scene falls flat, some of which at least had the potential to be funny. He elicits an embarrassing performance from Broderick Crawford as an ill-tempered tenant who sleeps during the day, and yells at everyone with such murderous violence you fear he's going to go on a killing spree, when it's obviously a subplot that's supposed to be played for yuks. Niven, as the pampered pianist, and Wyman, as a down-to-earth print model, are likable as always (and Wyman displays fantastic legs wearing white shorts in one scene where Niven literally can't take his eyes off her) but they can only do so much with the middling material. Victor Moore supplies the film's only laughs as the curious little man who runs the apartment building, Willoughby.

Very familiar "Local Hero" plot line which I'm usually a sucker for but it requires a filmmaker with a much lighter touch.

Humanizing A Robot

[dougdoepke · 20 February 2022]

I love it when snobbish Phillips (Niven) suddenly surveys the lovely Polly (Wyman) as she stands across from him in bare-legged short-shorts. Up to now the concert pianist has enclosed himself in a haughty world of the upper-class, too elevated to bother with either concerns of the flesh or those of everyday commoners. But now, oh my gosh, is that the sudden knock-knock of fleshy hormones on his closed door. Happily for me, his aren't the only male hormones the movie's activating.

Catch how snobbish Phillips is when he wants to evict the poor tenants from his newly acquired fancy hotel. Seems they don't measure up to his elite standards. But what does he care that neither kids nor adults have a place to go. Thus, enlarging his withered sense of humanity becomes a key plot thread amid a rather clogged screenplay. And guess who helps him.

Anyhow, the flick's much better at romance than comedy, the latter being clumsily overdone at best, Crawford shouting up an annoying storm, for one. Nonetheless, it's a good thing ace performers Wyman and Niven are on hand to salvage things, especially Wyman just coming off her Oscar winning deaf-mute in Johnny Belinda (1948). Together, the twosome make the gradual humanizing of the haughty Phillips believable, despite the contrived scheming going on behind their backs. That last part, I think, needed a rewrite.

All in all, it's a 90-minutes mainly for fans, or maybe even non-fans, of the two leads. Too bad Wyman and future President Reagan divorced in '49. She would have made a heckuva First Lady in short-shorts, and I surely would've voted Republican.

Quite good!

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 26 April 2017]

David Niven was never a favorite of mine; how much I liked him depended very much on the particular film of his I was watching. Every once in a while, however, he hit a home run. This is one of those times.

Here, Niven plays a concert pianist who is incredibly stuffy until he buys an apartment building as an investment. One of the tenants is Jane Wyman. And suddenly Niven is in love with a woman instead of the piano. But there are lots of road blocks: her boyfriend (Wayne Morris), an obnoxious neighbor (Broderick Crawford), and an meddlesome tour manager. But, of course, love conquers all.

As I said, Niven is in top form here, and the part is just right for him. The same is true for Jane Wyman, who really shines here. Victor Moore -- a character actor here playing the apartment manager -- usually doesn't impress me, but I liked his offbeat character in this.

This is a romantic comedy, but not a screwball comedy. I enjoyed it and recommend it if for no other reason than the chemistry between Niven and Wyman.

Painful

[mls4182 · 2/10 · 2 March 2021]

Jane Wyman is great in many films but never as a romantic lead, especially female. Comedy is not her forte and her director is no help. This film is full of fine actors - all wasted.

A Kiss Leads to a Lot More....

[JLRMovieReviews · 8/10 · 18 September 2013]

David Niven, a concert pianist, has just acquired a new property, that of a hotel building called Cleopatra Arms. I forget the details of how or why, but the place turns out to be anything but normal. He goes to see the place, after getting a visit from the hotel manager Victor Moore about getting repairs fixed for the building inspector. David winds up inspecting Jane Wyman, a tenant in her short shorts, and they instantly hit it off, despite the fact she already has a boyfriend, played by Wayne Morris. Broderick Crawford is a tenant who works by night, so he must sleep by day, and is very obnoxious about everyone making too much noise. There is a very funny bit about David practicing his piano playing next door to Crawford's room in an attempt to get the brute to move. In fact, I enjoyed the whole film, as it was very lighthearted and fun, with David being put in the position of Boy Scout leader, when he takes a group of boys on a hike and David, of course, knows nothing about such outdoor techniques of building a lean-to shelter. A sweet and satisfying little winner this is with Jane and David and a kiss in the dark....

Propinquity Plus Chemistry Equals Afinity

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 10 January 2022]

This film is a pleasant diversion that might be described as cute.

Eric Phillips (David Niven) is a neurotic pianist who lives life on a treadmill, surrounded by a retinue dedicated to keeping him on the concert circuit, earning money. When his financial manager invests some of his income in the purchase of an apartment building called the Cleopatra Arms, Eric gets a visit from a man named Horace Willoughby (Victor Moore) with news that will shake up his life.

Jane Wyman plays the part of Polly Haines, a comely model who lives in the Cleopatra. I'll admit that I have underestimated Ms. Wyman in the past, but this film has reminded me that she has talent and attractiveness. Polly is a somewhat simple part to portray, but Ms. Wyman elicits all of its facets with apparent ease.

Broderick Crawford does what he does so well: playing a pugnacious, ranting bully. He is meant to be part of the comedic relief, but his portrayal is not light-hearted enough, and better suited to a film like "Born Yesterday", which has serious issues to peddle.

Niven is the soul of light-hearted comedy, and he easily occupies the film's focal point.

Not the nicest movie

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 21 March 2018]

A Kiss in the Dark isn't a very nice movie. How can a movie not be nice, you ask? It makes fun of an intellectual because he doesn't know his way around the great outdoors like a boy scout. A character works the graveyard shift and wishes his neighbors to be quiet during the day so he can sleep, and instead of sympathy, the neighbors purposely make as much noise as possible to drive him away. Infidelity is brushed under the rug, and if the main character's lines were said by someone other than David Niven, he'd probably come across as callous.

In the film, David Niven is a world-famous concert pianist, but after twenty-one years of performances, he wants a break. Somehow, he finds out he's accidentally purchased an apartment complex, and the manager, Victor Moore, asks him to help fix the shabby place. The physical structure is in tatters, it's out of money, and the tenants don't get along. But, since David Niven meets Jane Wyman during his first visit, and since he can't stop staring at her lovely legs, he agrees to put his normal life on hold and devote all his time and energy to the apartment's problems.

Jane actually looks pretty cute in this movie, and has much more energy than she usually does. The Niv is always darling, but his talents are wasted in this silly romantic comedy. There are a couple of cute jokes, sprinkled in among the eye-rolling slapstick gags and rather mean-spirited main plot points. Jane baulks that The Niv thinks he's better than everyone else; she says, "He's not the President of the United States!" which, if you remember who she used to be married to, will make you laugh. And, in my favorite part of the movie, David Niven shows her his travel keyboard, saying when he travels without it he doesn't know what to do with himself. Jane looks him up and down, smiles, and tosses the keyboard aside.

All in all, this one's very silly. Jane fans can watch Three Guys Named Mike, Niv fans can watch Happy Go Lovely, and Victor fans can watch Swing Time instead.

Not bad at all, but could have been better!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 16 October 2014]

Alas, the script is not half as witty as the music score, composed and adapted here by Max Steiner. Nevertheless, the screenplay does provide a few good chuckles and the players do enter into the spirit of the film with infectious enthusiasm. Victor Moore is delightful as the apartment manager who believes in hobbies. David Niven is also in his element as the harassed concert pianist who exercises his light romantic charm on attractively photographed (except in profile shots) Jane Wyman. Wayne Morris (sporting a little mustache) has only a small role as the other point of the romantic triangle. We like his forced chuckle as he introduces himself as the representative of a friendly insurance company. Broderick Crawford is amusing in an even smaller part as a comic heavy. Maria Ouspenskaya has only one short scene. Delmar Daves' direction is inventive in spots (e.g. the tracking shot with Moore as he enters Niven's apartment; the close-up of the roller skate as Crawford's foot steps on it and rolls into the camera). All told, however, the movie would be greatly improved by sharper film editing. Trimming the surplus fat off scenes is definitely the way to go. The art direction is okay but disappointingly ordinary. Something more hideously pseudo-palatial was needed for the apartment's lobby and some of the slapstick in the photographic studio seemed a little forced. Perhaps this is the trouble with the movie as a whole. The story, which is slight and could have been treated lightly and charmingly, is forced to carry too much weight. There is too much talky dialogue, too much predictable and conventional plotting, too much slapstick and too little character development. In fact, all the characters are pretty one-dimensional. The movie's best feature is Max Steiner's clever scoring. For once, an obtrusive music score is firmly justified, not only because it is in character (Niven plays a concert pianist), but because it gives the film's otherwise dull-in-parts proceedings a necessary lift.

Labored, labored

[marcslope · 3/10 · 20 September 2018]

Alleged comedy, and comedy is not what Delmer Daves did well, about a cloistered concert pianist (David Niven, who's supposed to be 27 and was 41 and seems to know it) romancing a model (Jane Wyman; comedy was never her forte, either) in a New York apartment house run by Victor Moore, in his usual adorable-old-man mode (he twinkles almost as much as Barry Fitzgerald would). Every actor in this thing does what we've seen him/her do before, from Broderick Crawford bellowing to Joseph Buloff and Maria Ouspenskaya peddling florid accents, and poor Wayne Morris playing a character that makes no sense, a fiance of Wyman's we're supposed to hate. The slapstick is elaborate and badly staged, the conflict is essentially resolved long before it's over, and about the nicest thing is Max Steiner's scoring of the title song, which is by Victor Herbert, who doesn't even get a screen credit. I'm surprised to see so many user reviews calling it charming and fun; I generally like Warner comedies from this period, but this one's a waste.

borderline rom-com

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 30 January 2022]

Eric Phillips (David Niven) is a stressed concert pianist. One bad music note sends him spiraling. He refuses to play any more concerts. He gets served an arrest notice to repair his building which his advisor had bought without his knowledge. He falls for one of the tenants, model Polly Haines (Jane Wyman), and decides to move in.

This is a rather bland light rom-com. There are some attempts at slapstick with Niven doing some pratfalls. It doesn't really work. The love triangle isn't much of one. There are no obstacles. The chemistry is limited and the romance is never in doubt. It's fine but it's not fine enough.

***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 14 October 2017]

Great chemistry here between David Niven and Jane Wyman. Niven is a rather quiet great pianist who has performed around the world. A perfectionist, he is tired of going around playing. His investment adviser buys an apartment building where Wyman happens to live and the rest becomes an hysterical story.

Victor Moore steals the show as the good-natured landlord who went broke by helping out his tenants and in the year that he won the best actor Oscar for the phenomenal "All the King's Men," Broderick Crawford plays a cantankerous tenant who can't take any noise. The scenes where Niven plays his piano up against the wall of Crawford are hysterical. Crawford, with his usual mean veneer, is perfect for the part.

The film is a good one since Niven is given the opportunity to be out of his realm and reacting with everyday people. His hiking adventure with children of the building is funny.

As was so often the case in films, Maria Ouspenskaya appears in one scene as an aging pianist.